WTHR |Suspect dies after pursuit, shootout with police

Suspect dies after pursuit, shootout with police

Cat Andersen/Eyewitness News

Henry County - A suspect is dead after a pursuit and shooting involving state and local police.

State Police say a trooper attempted to stop a vehicle around 9:50 p.m. Friday for a traffic violation in Fayette County. The driver refused to stop and police pursued him for several miles at speeds ranging from 30-60 MPH. The suspect, later identified as 33-year-old Ryan Pruitt of Connersville, turned down several county roads, displaying a handgun.

About a half-hour after the pursuit began, Pruitt turned east onto U.S. 40 from Bentonville Road, then made a U-turn back westbound on U.S. 40. He then pulled southbound into the median and got out of his car.

Pruitt then got out of the vehicle, produced the handgun and fired in the direction of police. Officers returned fire, striking the suspect.

A medical helicopter was summoned, but Pruitt was pronounced dead at the scene. Two ISP troopers were involved in the incident, along with Henry County Sheriff's deputies and Cambridge City police.

The incident was the talk of Connersville Saturday morning.

"A chase and a shootout where the person dies? I haven't heard of that very often around here," said April Rosser, a Connersville native.

"You don't anticipate something like that happening in a small community. It's a brazen individual that turns around and shoots a police officer. That's something to fear, because if somebody will shoot at a cop, they'll shoot at anybody," said resident Jeff Greene.

Residents may be surprised to hear about a shootout happening in an area like Connersville, but they say they weren't surprised to hear that Pruitt was armed.

"Guns are not unusual around here. Everybody's got a gun," said Leo Isaacs. "It may not be right to go out and shoot somebody, but that's the law's business, you know, the family is going through terrible times."

Residents say the thing about a small town is when something like this happens, chances are you know someone in the family.